Mac mini vs NAS (QNAP)

[Mr.Bear]

I have owned a variety of QNAP NAS devices over the past ten years & have a few running today; and I have always used MinimServer. Combined with my Linn DSMs, I am pleased.

I am upgrading my network here and thought this was a good time to revisit how I connect things in my "primary" listening room.

I know of the fine reputation of Melco but that is not in the budget today, so I am trying to think outside of the box... and that has led me to ask:

If one did not care about data protection (RAID) and if the only two Apps one really wanted to "run" were MinimServer 2 and Roon Server, would a Mac mini be a better solution than a QNAP NAS ?

Thanks

[stefano_mbp]

You could consider a NUC Intel, smaller and cheaper than a Mac Mini, Roon Nucleus is based on this hw.
My setup is
- NUC8i3/8GB ram/256GB M.2 ssd
- Ubuntu 20.04
- MinimServer/MinimStreamer
- Bubbleupnpserver
- usb hdd Lacie 8TB
It is very silent too even upsampling everything up to wav24-352.8/384.
If you have a very large library, as Roon suggest, you could go for a NUC8i5
And you could add, if necessary, a fanless case like Akasa ones